Sorted by date Results 326 - 350 of 3077
CHENEY – In what might be somewhat of an irony, keeping legislators out of Olympia during the recently started biennial legislative session could actually increase participation by the public. With COVID-19 health protocol restrictions limiting lawmakers and others access to the normal governing process, several organizations have actually worked to create better access to sessions, hearings and the ability to provide remote testimony. And early indications show it might be working easier than anticipated. In a recent e...
MEDICAL LAKE – At its first meeting of 2021, the City Council tabled a discussion on an offer to purchase the former Ball and Dodd Funeral Home location at the southwest corner of the West Brooks Road, North Lefevre Street and State Route 902 intersection until more information to evaluate the offer is known. Chief among that information is the current appraised value of the property by the county and projected sales tax revenue the offer could bring to city coffers. City A...
Update at 6:04 p.m. -- In a message to parents and staff, Cheney Public Schools Superintendent Rob Roettger said a decision on whether or not school will resume will be made Thursday morning after officials assess the power situation. Snowdon and Windsor elementary schools along with Westwood Middle School still are without power. All three schools are in the area of Hallett, Grove and Thomas Mallen roads, which has been impacted by a major power line break (see below).... Full story
WEST PLAINS — Medical Lake City Administrator Doug Ross admits that when it comes to defining city workers is essential workers — and thus moving them further up the COVID-19 vaccination ladder — he is pretty much a lone voice crying out in the wilderness. Ross and Mayor Shirley Maike broached the subject last Tuesday, Jan. 5, during the City Council’s report section, with Maike telling members they had been in discussions with officials at Spokane Regional Health District about including at least some municipal workers...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS – The Spokane Tribe of Indians broke ground in early December 2020 on its planned casino expansion. The 20,000-square-foot expansion will double the casino's current size, providing not only additional gamin amenities but also a new restaurant, doubling the size of the bar, Whaluks - one of three current restaurants - and increasing the non-smoking section. Details on the new restaurant are scheduled to be released at later date, as are additional expansion p...
CHENEY – What do you do when you are in-between quarters in school and not getting many hours at work? Start a business, of course. That was Cheney resident Myrinn Kern’s answer to such a dilemma. The third-year Eastern Washington University student who is not attending right now was not getting many hours as a line cook at Bene’s Restaurant due to the pandemic. Needing some revenue, Kern took a look around at the dining options in the city — especially for college student...
CHENEY — Thanks to some online ingenuity and extra donations, a holiday tradition continued this season for local low-income students and families. The Cheney Middle School Holiday Store has been a fixture since founder Sherry Syrie asked her sixth, seventh and eighth-grade art students in 2011 to bring in new and like-new items to be regifted to students in need. The response was so great that Syrie went on to work with middle school staff and community members to make the store an annual fixture — something that this year f...
WEST PLAINS – Local first responders and selected health care workers have begun receiving vaccinations of one of the COVID-19 vaccines — with plans being discussed on how to more widely distribute doses once those become available to the general public. According to a Spokane Regional Health District news release, the district began administering the Moderna two-dose vaccine on Monday, Jan. 4, to first responders at a drive-thru clinic at the Spokane Fire Training Center. The district is coordinating with Spokane County EMS...
A bull moose takes a rest at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge near Cheney last week....
CHENEY — One could forgive school officials if they choose to take a victory lap around the 365-square-mile district. In presenting COVID-19 information and contract tracing data to the school board at its Dec. 16 meeting, Assistant Superintendent Tom Arlt spelled out the bottom line to all the work district staff have been doing in preventing the spread of the virus among students and staff in school — a number of total positive cases with “Epi” link that registered zero. No two or more cases that, according to the Center fo...
CHENEY - If you ever have a burning desire to find something that accentuates any feelings of inadequacy in life, here's a suggestion on how to accomplish that - attend an Eastern Washington University Mechanical Engineering and Technology Department student capstone presentation. On Dec. 2, seven teams composed of 6 – 7 senior students presented their solutions to a variety of problems posed to them by MET instructions Dr. Matthew Michaelis and Dr. Alex Bae - challenges r...
CHENEY — It took a while, but Eastern Washington University’s women’s basketball team finally got into the win column. The Eagles started slow, but combining an offensive outburst with solid defense, rebounded from an 11-point first quarter deficit to down visiting College of Idaho Yotes 59-46 last Thursday, Dec. 17, for Eastern’s first win of the 2020-2021 season. The Eagles had three score in double figures, led by Kennedy Dickie with 19 points and nine rebounds while Jenna...
CHENEY — School district officials have made some modifications in the phasing in of onsite, in-person instruction – plans they feel are on the right track thanks to recent updated guidance released by the state Department of Health and Gov. Jay Inslee’s office. At the Dec. 16 school board meeting, Superintendent Rob Roettger said the district is pushing back the start of third-grade return to classroom from the original Jan. 13 to Jan. 19. Staff felt the move was neces...
Addressing infrastructure needs CHENEY — While it’s been a difficult year, the overall state of the city is good, Mayor Chris Grover told participants at last Wednesday’s virtual “State of the Cities” event sponsored by the West Plains Chamber of Commerce and Multicare. The city has felt its share of the economic impacts from COVID-19 protocols imposed by the state, particularly small businesses, Grover said, but has managed to escape some of the more devastating fallout. Most local small businesses have stayed open to d...
CHENEY – The Eastern Washington women are still looking for their first victory of the season on the hardwood after losses to Boise State and Grand Canyon University. The Eagles fell 84-64 to the Broncos of the Mountain West Conference on the road Dec. 10 and came up short, 84-78, to the Lopes of the Western Athletic Conference on Monday, Dec. 14. Eastern committed 18 of their 26 total turnovers in the first half Monday, leading to 22 Lopes points. Three-point shooting kept the Eagles in the game — with all 15 of their poi...
CHENEY – In a Cheney Care Center building is a small room where several "old guys" like to gather and talk. Oh yes, and build small, wooden toy trucks. They call themselves "Cheney Chipsters," and they've not only been meeting and building since around 2010, but furnishing these little wooden marvels to area children who are facing life challenges and in some cases might not receive any gifts for Christmas. According to a list from Chipster Cliff Ferguson, there are 10 o...
CHENEY – With little fanfare or comment, the City Council took care of two budgets at its Dec. 8 meeting. The first involved passage of an ordinance adopting the city’s nearly $32.74 million 2021 budget. The budget included appropriations revenues and expenses of $9.99 million for the Light Department — revenues officials have acknowledged may be about 10 % lower than projected due to reduced activity at Eastern Washington University as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget also includes just over $8.5 million in to...
CHENEY – It may not seem like a lot, but the annual city practice of writing off uncollectable utility bills could grow larger over the next several years thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. At its Dec. 9 meeting, the City Council approved a resolution writing off $22,890.70 in uncollectable utility accounts resulting from utility bills under $50, small credits and bill from owners who have passed away with no collectable estates and accounts no longer within the legal period of collections. While less than the $32,282.06 w...
CHENEY – Doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine hit the tarmac at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Monday - with a final destination in the arms of health care workers and first responders this week, along with some of the more vulnerable individuals to the infection as early as next week. According to a state Department of Health Dec. 14 news release, Washington has received 62,400 doses of Pfizer's vaccine - the first of a half dozen vaccines being developed. The first d...
CHENEY – Local charitable organizations and nonprofits are managing to keep up with assisting residents in need despite seeing increased demand for services. In some cases, the organizations have made some changes to their services to provide additional help. Cheney Food Bank President Jerry Stewart said money “pouring” into Spokane via the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act indirectly helped the purchasing power of organizations such as 2nd Harvest — which provides supplies to area food ba...
CHENEY – A couple aspects of the city’s Light Department are scheduled to soon function on a remote basis. At their last meeting in November, the City Council approved two pilot program purchases by the department – one for a new remote metering program and the other for a centralized incident call center program. Both approvals total $18,247, with the metering program the most expensive at $13,497. According to Light Department Director Steve Marx, the metering program is a six-month agreement with Raleigh, N.C.-based Tanta...
CHENEY — School district officials pushed back against claims at a Dec. 2 school board meeting that a proposed education programs and operations levy this February is really a disguised tax increase. School board members approved putting two levies on the Feb. 9 special election ballot at their meeting last Wednesday — an EP&O levy taxing property owners $1.65 per every $1,000 of assessed valuation and a capital projects levy placing a 10 cent tax on every $1,000 of val...
Santa Claus watches as Cheney Merchant Association Chair Douglas LaBar lights the city's Christmas Tree last Friday night to begin the Holiday Hoopla home Light Show procession....
It’s been a difficult year for us all. I know that’s an understatement. But methinks I shouldn’t have to go into many details to explain why. Unfortunately, those reasons are still all around us. It’s said hard times bring out the best and worst in people. I’ve come to see the truth in that first-hand, and — put mildly — it’s disheartening. I’ve seen people come together as a community to support each other, and I’ve seen people who talk about the need for community support refusing to do so by undertaking the sim...
CHENEY — School district officials told board members at their Dec. 2 meeting that work on reopening schools to in-person student instruction had been put on pause as requested by the Spokane Regional Health District. The Health District cited sharply rising identification of positive cases and hospitalizations locally and across the state of COVID-19 as a reason for the pause. Public Schools Superintendent Rob Roettger told the board the district’s tentative plans would have had third-grade students returning to in-person in...
